Lukaku brace caps good night for international Blues

Romelu Lukaku scored two more goals for Belgium as they routed Estonia 8-1 in World Cup qualifying last night, while Yannick Bolasie netted the winner for DR Congo.

Having hit the post in the first half, Lukaku took a back seat in the scoring stakes as Thomas Meunier, Dries Mertens and Eden Hazard all netted to put Roberto Martinez's side up 3-1 at the break.

Yannick Carasco added a fourth, Mertens fired his second to make it 5-1 and Ragnar Klavan's own goal handed Belgium a sixth before Lukaku stepped in after his Everton team-mate Kevin Mirallas had come on as a substitute.

The striker scored in the 83rd and 88th minute to round off the scoring in what was Belgium's fourth win in four qualifying games.

Elsewhere, Bolasie's goal completed his country's fightback from a goal down to Guinea in Conakry and Maarten Stekelenburg was also on the winning side in Luxembourg.

Memphis Depay, linked this weekend with a loan move to Goodison Park, scored twice in the Netherlands' 3-1 win, one that puts them in second place in Group A on goal difference ahead of Sweden and behind France.

Reader Comments (30)

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Nev Renshaw 1Posted
14/11/2016 at
07:17:50

We've got to hang on to this lad.

Joe O'Brien 2Posted
14/11/2016 at
08:43:36

Exactly, Nev, with a lot of the talk on here that's he's lazy and his first touch isn't great, he still has a lot of goals in him. A near guaranteed 20 a season, and hopefully when the team starts to click into Koeman's way of thinking, he could be hitting 30 a season.

It makes me laugh that people complain about him so much and think we should sell him without any replacement sorted. To get a player with his goalscoring record, he would cost without doubt over 㿞m and not all players are guaranteed to score that much. Rom is.

We need to keep him.

Dave Abrahams 4Posted
14/11/2016 at
09:07:12

Joe. (2) Joe is definitely going for the simple reason he, Lukaku, does NOT want to stay. Joe just get used to that.

Joe O'Brien 5Posted
14/11/2016 at
09:15:18

Maybe he doesn't, Dave. I was just saying that a lot on this site constantly criticise him and complain about him and I don't think they do so because they think he wants to leave.

Ray Roche 7Posted
14/11/2016 at
09:44:17

Joe, Lukaku scores goals despite his short comings, not because of them. He'll always score goals but he'll never be a Ronaldo type of player, step overs, trickery etc.. But which central defender would want to look up and see Lukaku running at him full pelt with the ball? Not many.

But Dave's right. He sees his future elsewhere and there's little we can sensibly do about it.

Max Murphy 8Posted
14/11/2016 at
10:03:13

Wow! Scoring against Estonia! They must be up there with Gibraltar and Andorra.

Ray Roche 9Posted
14/11/2016 at
10:04:56

Incidentally, and I'm going slightly off topic here, the Liverpool Echo made a big deal about Everton's wage bill being "one of the highest in the world". Clearly, Lukaku will be responsible for some of that if the average player is on 㿔k a week and he's reported to be on about twice that amount and Bolasie is going to be on a good wedge.

However, the Echo fails to mention that Liverpool's wage bill is almost exactly TWICE Everton's but no mention of that. EFC are apparently 7th in the Prem, 㿔m behind Spurs in 6th place.

James Stewart 10Posted
14/11/2016 at
10:22:16

He will stay til the end of the season and that will be that. Like him or not he will be on the hit list of quite a few Champions League clubs.

That's what it will take to keep him â€” Champions League football... simple as that. We would have to strengthen significantly in January to be in with any chance of making the top 4 and keeping Rom.

John Malone 11Posted
14/11/2016 at
10:30:43

I rekon Lukaku's definitely going to PSG in the summer!

Koeman basically admitted it, that he was gone, with his last comments!

Let's start thinking about who we're getting to replace his goals. The options are very limited and people might appreciate how much of a goal machine Lukaku really is once he's gone!

Mark Morrissey 12Posted
14/11/2016 at
10:39:13

Let's hope that these goals give both Yannick and Rom some confidence going into Saturday's game. A good performance should give everybody a lift.

Tony Abrahams 13Posted
14/11/2016 at
11:20:46

Joe, I think, for Koeman's plans to click together, then Lukaku has to start getting hold of the ball and then start to bring other players into the game a lot more.

I do agree he could score 30 goals though, because I think this is what he lives for... scoring goals!

Colin Malone 14Posted
14/11/2016 at
11:50:04

Latchford, Lineker, Shearer... all scored 30 plus goals for their clubs, what did their clubs win? Zilch.

Gray, Sharp, Heath and Steven at Everton. Costa, Hazard, Pedro and William at Chelsea. All chipped in with goals to be successful.

Successful sides need more than one player scoring goals, which won't happen while Rom is in the side. Why? He's not a team player.

Don Alexander 15Posted
14/11/2016 at
12:58:55

Lukaku has the potential to do better, and that is all most so-called detractors are saying, but if we have to sell him I just hope the first part of the team that's improved is the midfield.

Yes, we'll need a good centre forward to replace him but with a productive goalscoring midfielder or two, not to mention others with pace and the ability to effectively defend, we just might be better off when he goes.

And I'm not wishing he's gone... just facing the reality of what he, Lukaku, never shuts up about.

Dave Abrahams 16Posted
14/11/2016 at
13:06:17

Joe (#5), yes, I understand your sentiments; he will always score goals. He's not my cup of tea to be honest, not a team player. At the same time, a lot of top clubs will go for him in the summer because of his goalscoring ability.

I bet you're a genuine Evertonian, Joe, who wants the best for our club; Lukaku wants what is best for Lukaku and good luck to him â€“ as long as the fee we get for him is spent entirely on new players.

Joe O'Brien 17Posted
14/11/2016 at
13:22:48

Yes, Dave mate â€“ only want what's best for us... and yes, Don, that's what we have to do, get goal scoring midfielders in to spread the goals because, when he does go, he'll be very hard to replace.

It's been rumoured he could be replaced with that fella from Napoli who so far had scored 1 goal this season, hardly prolific. As John@11 says, Rom is a goal machine and, unlike one-season wonders, he scores lots of goals every single season.

George Cumiskey 18Posted
14/11/2016 at
15:02:16

If you watched the Belgium game, you would've seen Lukaku laying the ball off brilliantly because he had a midfielder running past him and buzzing around him. Ours are so static it's unbelievable!

Andrew Clare 20Posted
14/11/2016 at
16:35:23

The person we should be buying from Napoli is Dries Mertens. He is very dangerous and a regular scorer for them- one of their star players along with the great Mark Hamsik who I would love at Everton but I think he'll finish his career at Napoli.

Gabbiadini is in and out of the Napoli team with a very poor goal return and not worth considering.

Brian Furey 21Posted
14/11/2016 at
16:43:53

This is Rom's 4th season with Everton having scored more goals every year than on the previous season. Having watched Everton struggle to sign any really good strikers since Lineker, we've had to do with second-rate strikers like Yakubu and I suppose you would include Cottee.

Rooney only stayed with us for two seasons before moving on to win trophies elsewhere. Lineker only stayed one season before his big move to Barca. Most top scoring strikers get picked up by the big money spending clubs which we haven't been since the Cottee signing.

To be honest, I'm delighted Rom has stayed with us this long and I think, if he stays fit he will break the 20-goal mark again this season.

I think his all-round game has improved where he is controlling the ball better and bringing others into the game better. He's level with Costa with 3 assists but, like someone said, he just doesn't have enough goalscorers from midfield making good runs in behind him. Deulofeu and Mirallas have been a huge disappointment so far this season and so that's why I can see Koeman bringing in more wingers or attack-minded players.

Ray Roche 22Posted
14/11/2016 at
17:24:17

Brian (#21),

To be fair to Lineker, he was sold, he didn't ask to go. Like Everton in the past, we saw a big profit and cashed in. And Kendall thought he'd be getting the call to go and manage Barca so he was happy to sell Lineker.

Lineker himself says that Everton were a stronger outfit than Barcelona at that time but the Heysel ban meant we couldn't prove it in Europe.

James Hughes 23Posted
14/11/2016 at
17:37:50

I thought Lineker was sold because Kendall thought we had become one-dimensional as a team. I seem to recall that Leicester did better out of the deal when he went to Barca than we did.

I think we bought for 𧿘k then sold for ٟ.8M so a profit of ٟM. Leicester had a sell-on clause of 20% so they took 𧸠k from that transfer. I could be wrong of course

Peter Murray 24Posted
14/11/2016 at
17:49:52

He wants to go, will go & what diehard Evertonian, is really bothered? Get rid â€“ get a player who wants to play for us regardless, and respects the club, He defo will score goals wherever he goes... but not contribute to any team play, or improve overall team spirit, that us Evertonians have always cherished, expected & normally had provided.

Mourinho, a top coach, knew he was a no-mark... get rid & just get other blues scoring as soon as possible & it will not be an ongoing debatable issue!!!

COYB â€“ always!

Patrick Murphy 25Posted
14/11/2016 at
18:28:25

Even in those days when Everton were in their pomp, Barcelona were a club that could tempt the better players and staff to the Nou Camp.

Howard Kendall as reported in the Liverpool Echo:-

A year earlier, I had nearly gone to Spain as Barcelona manager. It was expected that Terry Venables would leave the club and I was recommended by him to be his successor.

I met a delegation from the Nou Camp in London and we agreed the terms of the move. Everton were kept informed of all the developments and the board agreed that my assistant, Colin Harvey, would succeed me.

The deal never happened. Terry decided to stay in Catalonia and I remained on Merseyside, where I led Everton to the League Championship again.

Although a move to Catalonia did not happen for me, for Gary Lineker the chance came. Barcelona had enquired about his availability towards the end of the ultimately disappointing 1985-86 season and a deal was agreed. He went with my blessing, because I don't think that you can stand in a player's way when a club like that comes calling.

Although he had scored so many goals I didn't think his departure would cause irreparable damage to our team. Indeed, to the contrary, I felt it might heighten the teamwork that had brought us such outstanding success a year earlier. As it happened, that was the case.

We agreed a deal before the World Cup, not knowing Gary would return as a national hero. Had we been able to foresee that we might have been able to inflate the ٠million asking fee by a million or two. Equally, had he endured a nightmare tournament I don't doubt that Barcelona might have dropped out of the deal.

I often get asked if the sale of Gary to Barcelona was linked to my possible arrival there as manager. I can unequivocally state that is not the case. The deals and the timeframes involved were completely different. In any case, I would never â€“ under any circumstances â€“ work against the interests of a football club I was managing to further my own as a manager elsewhere later on. That just wasn't the way I worked.

James, the figure was approximately ٠.8m meaning a ٠m profit. Kendall wasn't so much concerned about us being one-dimensional as about his perceived next appointment which he thought was going to be Barcelona. Of course, it didn't happen but Kendall still wanted to manage abroad, hence his trip to Atletico Bilbao.

James Hughes 27Posted
14/11/2016 at
18:48:25

Ray & Patrick, many thanks for that info about the fee paid by Barca.Always good to refresh memories.

Trevor Lynes 28Posted
14/11/2016 at
23:26:30

The last game we won Lukaku scored from a Bolasie assist then Barkley scored from a Lukaku assist. Rom was involved in both goals and the goalkeeper made a fine save off his first time volley.I actually want a lot more from Barkley, Deulofeu and Mirallas. None of those three would have made the Bolasie dash and challenge that made Lukaku's goal. Lukaku is much more of a team player than most other strikers in the Premier. Most strikers are far more selfish than Lukaku.There is no EFC striker I have seen who would have scored the goal that Lukaku scored against Chelsea. Just take a look at it on YouTube and marvel. :) This kid is going to be a big star and we should make him feel wanted while he is with us.

Darren Hind 29Posted
14/11/2016 at
05:23:55

I remember people saying we would be in deep shit without Gary Lineker's goals â€“ a real 40 goals, not an imaginary one. We simply changed our style, were a better watch, and we pissed the league.

Got to hold on to him? My arse. He is one of the main reasons we are dull as ditch water to watch.

This club needs an absolute bottoming. Somebody to come in with a huge fuck off broom and sweep out the deadwood. We have too many fans who are blown away by the mediocre and grateful to the semi-committed.

Hang on to him in the face of what? Despite hawking himself around Europe for the best part of two years, we have hardly been beating them off with a stick .

We should be demanding more from him, not falling over ourselves with gratitude because he "chooses" to stay.

Tony Abrahams 30Posted
15/11/2016 at
11:01:41

Trevor, I agree with you and also want a lot more from the players you mention, plus Bolasie.

You pick out general incidents that back up your arguement with regards to Lukaku, but I am just looking at him as a footballer, and his usual general performances.

He might be a star in the making because he will always score goals, but to be a lone striker, I just think that you should have ingredients that should suit the team.

Lukaku, for all his strength and size, very rarely acts as a buffer for the rest of the team, and I just feel that the performances of those around him might also improve if he really started getting hold of the ball?

He done it for 30 minutes against West Ham, and Everton looked a much better team, as they did at Burnley the week before that, in the second half when he also started getting hold of the ball.

Maybe the players around him are the problem? But I know if I was on the pitch playing with Romelu, that I wouldn't be wanting to gamble on running forward that much, simply because he doesn't get hold of the ball enough?

Mick Davies 31Posted
15/11/2016 at
21:20:43

Watch how many times last season Lukaku ran into space, only to be continually ignored by Big-time-Charlie Barkley, Look-at-my-boy band-hairdo Mirallas, and 'It's my ball' Deulofeu. Only Coleman and Baines consistently looked for him.

If I was scoring goals to save a team from relegation, I'd be thinking of moving too. Lukaku is never going to run around for 90 mins; he's more Latch than Lineker, but we can accept that if he consistently wins us points. What we can't have is 3/4 or 5 players thinking they can do the same.

In my opinion, we miss McCarthy's work rate more than we appreciate; he does all the running and tracking that never seems to emanate from Barkley, Mirallas, Deulofeu and even Bolasie.

We have a lot of talented players, but not a team, and unless Koeman can change the attitude (which he's being paid well for), then it's the same old story â€“ lose the ball upfront and it's pressure on the defence in a heartbeat.

So please lay off Lukaku, and look at the 'alleged' creative players and ask, "If they aren't doing their job, how can Rom do his?"

Tony Abrahams 32Posted
15/11/2016 at
21:37:54

Agree Mick, lose the ball upfront, and it's pressure on the defence in a heartbeat!

Dave Abrahams 33Posted
16/11/2016 at
09:27:58

Tony (#32) â€“ and one of the chief culprits is... ???

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